Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-08-05
TIE BOOMING WEST.
HOW WICHITA MADE AND LOST IN
REAL ESTATE.
Some schemes of Enterprising Specu-
lators Which Will be of Interest.
How STRAW" Railroad Man Made
$4,000.
$4,000.
Especial Correspondence. I

WICHITA, July -
In my last letter I told you the story of the
wonderful growth of this town of Wichita
how i'll sixteen years it has become a city of
81 600 people and how its development in the
past year has surpassed that of any other
town in the country. In this letter / wish to
| describe some of the curious phases of its
growth and to give you some of the methods
| by which the immense amount of prairie sur
! rounding it has been sold as city lots
| In the first place, the town went crazy over
real estate Its actual growth was discounted
| 1000 per cent by the hopes of its citizens,
! and both the incomers and the residents were
| ready to accept any theory of its great flu
| ture. Such of them as had the sense to see
that this era of speculative values could not
! last hoped to get out before the boom sub
| sided, and property was bought today with
! the sole expectation of selling at an advance
tomorrow. The result Of the whole has been
| that the farm lands within range of four
miles of the center of the town are laid out
| in lots. hundreds of new additions have been
! added to the old city limits and the city has
taken in the whole six miles square of its
township into its boundaries Real estate
| signs grow like crops in widely distant fields,
and the whole country is cut up into a net
work of projected motor lines which all lead
to Wichita. M#A
Ir,at last niobt oua If ,ba influential ,,o,,
Of Wichita n man who is ne we'll nostad ~,
| what is going on rs any man i'm if md If i
| from his conversation that I give the follow
| inc, incidents of its boom There is no doubt
| Of ,bo truth of his statements which ,voro
| ,iveu me on condition that his name should
not be connected with them.
81 have been here, said he, "for two years,
| and bavo made money hive kent nv owes
onon aud there is little tbot bos zone on ,L.t
! | have NOT saan Wn have had n wonderful
cr2,vtb Inf we have been crozv durinc, ,ho
,,,.4 vaa,. and oll of fine ,yorl1 soans to hnvo
| ir.baJ in 70 holnus We hova had nen,,lo
L,ro fran, o,ar,. country of Enrone ond o,.ar
mart of fine limited States Tba craza com
| mon, .nd fine n,i,l,Ila of last November mud ov
| tended to fine 1st of April. and durino the
latter mart Of it the real estate transfers ran
- bioh nc 60 Goo ooO n wool, Ivo no,o ont
! on licenses to real estate ooents md .oll
farm lands in lots nj from 81 OOO 70 81 OoD
nor acre The craze is now over and lin,
81 ions saw they have STONED luvine, md
,,a,a 20 Lnil,ii,,, There !. ,nucb LriIin,c,
! ,r,,ir,, on bnt we win do we'll if we luild mn
6,r ,7,esnnt limits in DECADE Nh,ch ,,ron-
o,.tv has baan hougbt on credit and tha raci,-
| o,,in,, dov is VET TO come
] | n
boom.r
81 don't know Our growth which has
! ;,,,,,,.I from, III OOO to ,hout % onD Ia +,,.,
I,eo,.. started if and fine ordor of fine suac,,lo ,
ti,.a An,n,.;,on helued II on Some Of a..
s.ban,es nv which lots were sold are yyo,tl,
| +.1Ii,,o We had nroia,tod u,o,o,, luos i,
,,,,.,- li,,i,,, oh .,,. f,.,,.,,. ,,l, ,,,,,,,i
20 soll lie f,,,, two or. ;,,.oo ,,,iI,, o,,.o, l.,i
,,,i,, 20 no, 49,, +ro,,, oc,,,,,,,,, 49,, - .n
cor Cbo,.to,. 70 ,bo cit,. hu,, Tav, tio, a,,d
aI,.o.ti., :, 49, ,,,,, a,1Ii,i,,, TI,a
,.s1,,Iators would NH fn,. Il and lie lana
.yould iump M from less than .oJ to several
thousand dollars an acre The same was
dnra Inv reol estate agents. and of course in
tbe majority of cases the lines We're stopped
huildinG ofter the sales were made. As an
instance of this the following are some of the
motor lines that have been projected:
WIGHT, and Valley Center line Of eight miles
in lanrtb alon, the extent of which lots were